The 25pdr SP, tracked, Sexton was a Canadian-designed

self-propelled artillery Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled ...

vehicle of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It was based on Canadian-built derivatives of the American

M3 Lee The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British C ...

and

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...

tank chassis. Canada had set up to produce the

Ram tank The Tank, Cruiser, Ram was a cruiser tank designed and built by Canada in the Second World War, based on the U.S. M3 Medium tank chassis. Due to standardization on the American Sherman tank for frontline units, it was used exclusively for tra ...

using the M3 chassis and Grizzly (a copy of the M4) to complement US medium tank production; when Sherman production in the US expanded and supply was no longer a problem, it was decided in 1943 to switch the Canadian production lines to produce the Sexton to give the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

a mobile artillery gun using their Ordnance QF 25-pounder gun-howitzer for commonality with towed guns. The Sexton could fire either HE shell or an

armour-piercing shell Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many w ...

. It found use in the Canadian and British Army, as well as numerous other

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and associated forces. Just after the war, a number of Grizzly and Sextons were sold to Portugal, who used them into the 1980s.

History

In order to better provide artillery support in the highly mobile desert warfare of the North African Campaign, the British Army had quickly adapted a number of obsolete Valentine tanks with the 25-pounder gun. These were introduced in 1942 as the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

, but proved to have many problems in service. In particular, the turret left little room for elevation, and gunners took to driving their tanks onto hills or dirt ramps in order to get the full range out of the gun. The Bishop was quickly replaced by the US-built M7 Priest, consisting of the US 105 mm gun mounted on the

tank chassis. The M7 supplied under Lend-Lease reaching service in October 1942.Chamberlain & Ellis, p176 In March 1942, the UK had ordered 2,500 for 1942 with another 3,000 for 1943. The first M7s were rushed to Egypt for the Second Battle of El Alamein where they played an important partChamberlain & Ellis, p139 The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 B12024

The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 B12024

However, the Priest used the American 105 mm howitzer which was not in use in other British units. Having to supply different ammunition for just a few units complicated supply for the British Army. The British General Staff requirement was for a vehicle with mobility and characteristics of the M7 but with the 25 pounder gun-howitzer. The US attempted to fit a 25 pounder to the M7 Priest, producing the "25 pounder Howitzer Motor Carriage T51" in July 1942, but the program suffered delays including the destruction of the gun mount on the prototype during the first live-firing exercises. Sexton SP gun

US resources were not available for a vehicle solely for British use, so Britain turned to Canada. The Canadian Army Engineering Design Branch through the Canadian government's Department of Munitions and Supply were asked to build a vehicle similar to the M7 on the Ram tank chassis. The

was a Canadian tank design that used the chassis of the American Medium Tank M3 the same as the Priest. The Ram had been sidelined by a decision to standardize on the Sherman tank for British and Canadian units. A prototype was completed on 23 June 1942. Following trials in Canada, the Canadian government ordered 124 vehicles in three batches. The prototype was shipped to the United Kingdom in early 1943, where it underwent further trials; the vehicle was found to be highly satisfactory and was given the designation "Sexton" (after the religious custodian and following in the tradition of the Bishop and the Deacon self-propelled guns) in May 1943. The British government ordered 300 Sextons in the summer of 1943; however, these Sextons were to be built on

Grizzly tank The Grizzly I was a Canadian-built M4A1 Sherman tank with relatively minor modifications, primarily to stowage and pioneer tool location and adding accommodations for a number 19 radio set. They used the same General Steel hull castings as late ...

hulls (Canadian-built M4A1 Sherman tanks) instead of Ram tank hulls. The Ram-based Sexton was designated as the Sexton Mark I and the Grizzly-based Sexton was designated the Sexton Mark II. British orders for the Sexton II eventually totalled 2,026 vehicles. Unlike the Ram, which was inferior operationally to the Sherman and never saw combat as a gun tank, the Sexton was successful. Between 1943 and 1945, the

Montreal Locomotive Works Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomot ...

manufactured a total of 2,150 Sextons for the use of both Canadian and British forces. The vehicle entered service in September 1943. In spite of its confused origins, the Sexton was a combination of proven parts and proved to be a successful design that remained in British service until 1956.

Operational service

The vehicles were first used in combat in Italy by the British Eighth Army. Later, Sextons took part in the invasion of France and subsequent Battle of Normandy and the campaign in north-western Europe. During the D-day landings, a number of Sextons were ordered to fire from their landing craft as they approached the beaches although the fire did not prove to be very accurate. After the war a number of units were equipped with the Sexton as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). The following units were equipped with the Sexton at different periods: *

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS90 self-propelled gun. The regiment is currently based at L ...

, Italy 1944-45, post-war (Sexton withdrawn in 1956) *

2nd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery 2nd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery was a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery that served in the Second World War. It saw action in France, Greece, North Africa and Italy. It was redesignated as 2nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1958. T ...

, Italy 1944-45, post-war (Sexton withdrawn in 1957) * 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, post-war * 5th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, North West Europe 1944–45; post-war * 6th Field (Self Propelled) Regiment, Royal Artillery, post-war * 10th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, post-war * 13th (HAC) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, North West Europe 1944-45 *

86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery The 86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a unit of Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA) formed after World War I from existing artillery and Yeomanry Cavalry units recruited in Hertfordshire. It ...

, North West Europe 1944-45 * 90th(City of London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, North West Europe 1944-45 * 98th Field Regiment (Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry Queen Mary's), Royal Artillery, North west Europe 1945 *

147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery The Essex Yeomanry was a Reserve unit of the British Army that originated in 1797 as local Yeomanry Cavalry Troops in Essex. Reformed after the experience gained in the Second Boer War, it saw active service as cavalry in World War I and a ...

, North West Europe 1944-45 * 153rd (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, North West Europe 1944-45 Britain and Canada used the Sexton for indirect supporting fire, keeping the Sextons back from the front line and used forward observers to direct overwhelming fire onto a target. The

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n 1st and 2nd Field Artillery Regiments used Sextons after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Variants

*Sexton I: The first 125 vehicles manufactured. Based on the Ram tank hull. *Sexton II: It featured boxes added to the rear deck to carry batteries and an auxiliary generator to charge them. Based on the Grizzly (M4A1 Sherman) hull. *Sexton GPO (Gun Position Officer): The 25 pounder was removed and an extra No. 19 Wireless was added along with map tables; this vehicle was used to control battery fire.AFV Profile

British self-propelled gun naming

A British self-propelled gun armed with the Ordnance QF 25-pounder in design from 1941 was given the service name "

" as its appearance was said to resemble a bishop's

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

. A replacement, the US 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was called "Priest" by the British, as part of its superstructure was said to resemble a priest's pulpit. Following this line of names, a 1942 self-propelled

QF 6 pounder 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

on armoured truck chassis was named "

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

". A post-war self-propelled gun was called

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

References

Sources

* Chris Ellis, Peter Chamberlain - AFV No. 13 - ''Ram and Sexton'', Profile Publications, England *

External links

World War II vehicles

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexton (Artillery) World War II self-propelled artillery World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Canada World War II armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom Self-propelled artillery of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944 M4 Sherman tanks